


Weird Pets and Elevators

by NateTheWolf



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Elevators, F/F, Fam outing!, Fluff, If You Squint - Freeform, Light Angst, Pet Shops, Shopping Malls, Trapped In Elevator, overapet, surprisinglybeingpatient, thasmin, thedoctorbeingachild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21665779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NateTheWolf/pseuds/NateTheWolf
Summary: The fam go on a little shopping trip together before they go back into their own lives for a bit. Graham gets Yaz to take the Doctor to get a pet for company, what they come back with is not what he had in mind.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	1. Pet Store

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a one-shot but I decided to do this.

“Ooh! Yaz look at this!” 

She heard the excited voice call from the other side of the shop, thankfully it was small and she could still see the blonde, practically bouncing up and down as she pointed at a glass container in the wall, so she wasn’t that embarrassed. There weren’t many people in the shop anyway. Laughing at how animated the Doctor was being in her actions, it was almost as if she were a cartoon, she walked up to see what the fuss was about. 

“Yeah? What – Oh my-” 

“Brilliant, isn’t he?” the blonde beamed as she stared at the container. “Well, I say he, they’re actually hermaphroditic, but it seems like a he, don’t'cha think? Yaz?” 

Yaz knew it was a mistake taking the Doctor to the exotic pet shop. It was Graham’s idea for the Time Lord to get a rabbit or something to look after and talk to when she was bored or alone, seeing as recently the fam couldn’t stay off earth too long. Ryan and Yaz had busy working days, whereas Graham had to meet up with his old work buddies and do some errands he was procrastinating doing. Which meant they couldn’t go on adventures with her for around two weeks or so. They knew it was a time machine and they could be back in five minutes, go on one of their lunch breaks, but they weren’t going to risk it. Knowing Yaz’s luck she’d get a cut or scar on her that would raise suspicion. It was best to avoid going on any adventures for a while. 

The Doctor was rather sad and decided to have an ‘earth day’ as she called it, even though it was just a shopping trip to get them adjusted to life at home since they had been gone for a week on various alien planets – or a camping trip as they told everyone else. She did assure them that she didn’t need a pet, she would be alright on her own, but they didn’t stand for it. Graham even gave Yaz money for her to get a pet and anything to go along with it. She tried to politely refuse, but it didn’t work. 

So here they were, in a pet shop looking at a striped Giant African Land Snail. In all honesty, Yaz just wanted to look at the cute lizards and geckos, probably the smaller snakes, but she didn’t - and probably should have in retrospect – think that the Doctor would want a giant snail as a pet. 

“You want that don’t you?” she sighed, regret evident in her tone. 

“Yeah, think he’s cool,” the Doctor grinned, practically vibrating with excitement. A moment later she stopped slowly, as if she only now sensed Yaz’s trepidation to her getting a snail as a pet. She looked down, worry evident in her features and her voice softened as she mumbled; “he’s not too much is he?” 

“What? No, he’s not,” Yaz smiled kindly as she tentatively put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s just, I don’t really know what you’d do with a snail, and the point is to get one to distract you-” 

“Or just keep me company,” she muttered. “I’ll probably just talk to him, and I’m sure I can set up a room or something for him for when we’re out and about.” 

“You really, really want him, don’t you?” 

“I do,” she said softly and flashed a childlike smile at her friend as she finally looked away from the giant snail. “I’ll even get the TARDIS to pay Graham back, given that money was earmarked for a fluffy rodent or something.” 

“I’ll talk to someone about getting him now then, just stay here yeah?” Yaz raised a brow, grinning when the Doctor’s face lit up like a child who had been given sweets. 

“Yup! I’ll stay put; I swear!” she mock-saluted and stomped her foot on the floor. 

Shaking her head, yet had a smile on her face, Yaz went to find a worker, occasionally glancing back at the blonde, making sure she was indeed staying put. Surprisingly, she had. All she did was stare at the African snail, and what seemed like talked to it. 

“Hey, um, my friend was wondering if that African Land Snail is for sale?” she pointed to her once she got to the desk. 

“Yes, actually,” the worker grinned. “Have you or your friend looked after an African Snail before?” 

“I haven’t no, but I’m guessing my friend has,” she gestured to the still bouncing blonde staring at the animal. “Are there any leaflets though?” 

“Yeah,” the red-head nodded as she ducked under the desk, assumingly looking for said leaflet. A moment later her head popped up and she bashfully slid it over. “Here, should give you everything you need to know on how to look after them! I’ll get Stephen to get it out for your friend, do you want to look at any containers while you wait?” 

“Um,” Yaz glanced at back at the Doctor, now rambling to a little boy about how cool the snail was. Focusing a little, just to make sure she didn’t say anything to freak him out, she heard names, which only meant they were both trying to come up with a name for him. She suppressed a laugh and turned back to the worker. “Honestly, I think she’d probably want to carry it, and has stuff for it at home. We’re going back soon anyway; do you think that’ll be okay?” 

Kayla, as her name tag read, hummed as she thought. “In a carrier, yeah, on her own? I’m not sure,” she shrugged. “But of course, once you walk out of here we can’t do or say anything, so your friend could take it out of the container when she wishes.” 

“Great!” Yaz grinned. “Can I pay for the snail now? And if there’s any food for it here?” 

“I’ll go get you some, and then get Stephen, you can tell your friend the good news,” Kayla motioned towards the blonde, now waving her arms about as she seemed to explain something to the kid. 

“Thanks! We’ll be over in a bit,” she nodded as she grabbed the leaflet and strolled over to the Doctor just as the kid got pulled away by his dad, who was talking on his phone. Ignoring the pang of anger, she smiled up at her friend, waving the leaflet slightly. “Think you’re gonna need this, assuming you haven’t looked after a giant snail before.” 

“I can have it?!” her face lit up again. 

“Yes, and I’m assuming you’ll have the correct stuff for him in the TARDIS?” 

“Yup!” 

“Good, just need to get the fella out and the food then we can go back to Ryan and Graham,” Yaz grinned. 

The Doctor nodded, almost triumphantly as she looked around. She was still bouncing on the balls of her feet, all of the excitement and seemingly happiness making her fidgety, as usual. Yaz noticed the only times she stood perfectly still was when it was a life or death situation. Even when she claimed to be bored in the TARDIS she would at least be tapping her foot. 

In reality, it only took a minute or two for Stephen to get the snail out, and for Yaz and Kayla to sort out the payment, but to the Doctor it seemed like hours. She was clearly impatient. Yaz noticed, when she was grabbing her purse to pay, that she edged closer to her and didn’t take her eyes off the cardboard box the moment she saw Stephen carry it to the desk. It was almost as if she were waiting, somewhat patiently, for permission to take the pet. 

“There, you’re all set,” Kayla smiled at them and passed the box to the blonde. 

“Thanks, didn’t expect it to be this quick,” Yaz muttered as she pocketed the small food container in one of her bigger pockets and her purse in her jeans pocket. She side stepped, only to see the Doctor look at her expectantly, still waiting for permission. It was rather odd, given how impatient she usually was, but thought it was probably out of nerves or risk of getting told off and not being let to have the pet. “You can carry him, he’s yours after all.” 

She grabbed the box rather gently, and attempted to hold in a squeal. It was admirable, yet odd, that the Doctor of all people could get this delighted over a snail, a generic earth snail too, not even one from space. Yaz was sure there were space snails somewhere in the universe. 

They waved goodbye to the workers and headed towards Greggs, that was on the second floor, and they were on the ground one. Yaz noticed how close her friend held the box, suddenly protective of it once she saw the amount of people around. She glanced up at the escalators, seeing that there were quite a few people barging their way to and from them at the top. The Doctor was pretty clumsy already, and she knew how upset, and possibly angry, she’d be if she got nudged and dropped the box because of someone bumping into her. Worst case scenario, the box falls down the escalators, resulting in serious injury to the snail, and probably some to the Doctor since she would definitely chase after it. 

She glanced at the blonde, who held the box close and tried to look through the holes in it before looking back at the escalators, clearly looking apprehensive. 

“Elevator?” Yaz asked suddenly, noticing there was nobody by it. As much as she hated it, it was the only option with zero accidental injuries to the Doctor or the snail. 

“Elevator, yeah,” the Doctor grinned, and strolled over to it as she hummed. 

“Great...” 


	2. Trapped

They were the only ones in the lift, everyone else seemed to have taken the escalators. It made some sort of sense, seeing as they could walk or run up them to get to their destination quicker than using an elevator. 

As soon as they got in Yaz pressed the button and headed to the metal rail in there. She squinted once it moved, the sudden movement making her head hurt a little. Luckily it went unnoticed since the Doctor was focused on her new pet. It was adorable seeing her so  enamoured with it, but still confusing, and a bit creepy when she would mutter to it.

Suddenly, the elevator came to a halt and shook slightly. The lights turned off. Yasmin gasped and held onto the rail like her life depended on it. She felt like it did. Even though her eyes were closed, she felt like she could see a hue of red in the darkness, and shuddered at the thought of this malfunction being something to do with an alien. If that were the case, it would definitely be different than last time. The elevator jerked before the lights flickered on. After a shuddering breath, she cautiously looked around, just to see if anything had happened in the dark, in case somehow anything got in. Her time with the Doctor in space can be blamed for her being even more on edge for this type of thing. She sighed when she saw nothing but the Doctor standing next to her, looking around before facing her.

“I so thought...”

“You thought?” the Doctor tilted her head, waiting for her to finish her sentence, and confused as to why she had straightened up and looked right past her.

“Why and how is your snail on your shoulder?” Yaz asked as she stared at the pet.

“Oh, I wanted to check he was okay,” she grinned, like it was completely normal for it to be perched on her shoulder like a parrot. “He climbed  up; the jostle must’ve scared him.”

“Getting along already then,” her friend said rather awkwardly, looking back at the blonde. “I swear if you two become  inseparable , we cannot take him on any trips-”

The elevator jerked again, and what felt like went down a little bit. Yaz yelped and fell into the corner of the metal box, whereas the Doctor stayed still, her feet planted shoulder width apart on the floor to keep her steady.

“Okay what was that? Why did it just go down? Oh god, it’s  gonna fall, we’re  gonna crash, we’re-”

“Yaz, are you scared of elevators?” the Doctor said softly as she stepped towards her.

“What was your first clue?!” she snapped. The blonde took half a step back, a bit stunned at her raised voice. Yaz sighed slowly, trying to calm herself down as she blinked tears away. “Sorry, sorry, just... Y-Yeah, not a fan...”

“It’s okay Yaz, we’re going to be fine,” she smiled. “It’ll start up soon, don’t worry.”

“H-How can you be so sure?”

“ Y’know me,” the Doctor grinned and comfortingly held onto her hands. Her smile faltered when she felt them tremble ever so slightly, but forced herself to not look concerned so she didn’t worry her friend. “Always an optimist.”

“Y-Yeah, you are,” she smiled slightly. “Um, w-what should we do? Check the doors? See if we’re on a floor?”

“Um, honestly I don’t know what will happen if we press any buttons... Do you know which one opens the doors?”

“The ones with triangles.”

“Triangles, right,” the Doctor let go of her hands and walked over to the buttons, pressing the one that had the ‘open' scrawled under it. Nothing happened. She hummed before pressing it again, and again, and again. The lights flickered. Yaz’s gasp made her stop and twirled around.

“M-Maybe don’t press it again?” she suggested as she looked up and around the elevator, fear evident in her features.

“Right, yeah,” the blonde muttered as she backed away. She swung her arms as she somewhat skipped back to Yaz and carefully leaned back on the mirrored wall, hoping the snail wasn’t at risk of being squished. Luckily, he was moving down her arm slowly. She slid down the wall and sat cross legged with a sigh. “We can just sit here, wait it out. It should be moving soon. You okay with that?”

“N-Not much we can do,” Yaz slumped down, a little harder than she had intended, and the light flickered. She tensed up; her hands spread on the floor slightly as she held her breath. Closing her eyes, she breathed out slowly and took a few deep breathes. It took a few moments for her to realize there was another hand on hers. It freaked her out for a second before she remembered that she wasn’t alone. She turned to see the Doctor had shuffled closer and placed her hand on hers, gently stroking her thumb along the side of it.

“Do you want talk about it?” she asked softly.

“Huh?”

“You relived something for a moment there,” she smiled sadly for a moment, almost sympathetically, like she knew from experience. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here to listen.”

“I-It’s stupid-”

The Doctor wrapped her arm over her shoulder. “It’s not stupid if you’re so worked up about it. I’m not going to force you to say, I mean, I can guess, but if you want to talk about it, I’m all ears.”

Yaz was silent for a minute or so, contemplating telling her. She hadn’t told anyone about it before, never had a reason to, never really wanted to. Even her parents didn’t know about this panic she got when she stepped in an elevator. They knew she hated them anyway, knew she was scared, knew the reason she stuck by them and sprinted up the stairs whenever her family would use elevators, no matter how high they were going, even though she claimed she needed or wanted the exercise and experience for when she was an officer. It was a smart enough excuse at the time, and never dismissed, seeing as she would always go on about how cool police were in movies, how they helped people, how they stopped crime. Her family even encouraged it, and sometimes would make a game of it. See who would get to the top first. One day when she was unwell, but didn’t want to take the elevator, even though her uncle wanted her to go in it for ‘safety’ of going somewhere alone, despite doing it multiple times before, her mum got Sonya to race her down, knowing how competitive they got. Their uncle shut up after that, now not being able to make the excuse of her being alone, in reality he didn’t want to wait when he got to the bottom, he was as impatient as the Doctor.

She glanced up at the blonde, admiring how calm she was in this situation, and comforting. She noticed the small rub at her shoulder, wanting to fully lean into her friend and wrap her own arms around her.

“I was ten,” she sighed. “My mum wanted to go on a shopping trip with the family for her birthday, so we did. She really wanted to go to this new clothes shop on the top floor, there were four or five floors, and we were on the ground one, just got up from the underground carpark. Mum wanted to go to the shop asap, so we were going to go to it first, but my gran just wanted to grab a drink first. So, while they did that, I went to a gadget shop. I didn’t go in it, I wasn’t allowed in shops on my own at that point, especially since this was a new place and we didn’t know the area. Parents were worried Sonya or I would get kidnapped if we were more than ten feet apart. The shop was literally next door to where they were. A-And... Well, I-I was busy looking at these little gadgets in the window to see my family had gone up in the elevator, I only noticed when they weren’t around me and faintly heard mum calling me...”

When she paused the Doctor shuffled closer, giving her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Yaz smiled slightly up at her, but it fell too quickly to look sincere. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the kind eyes staring at her, somehow patient enough to let her get this out at her own speed.

“I-I saw the elevator doors close, caught a glimpse of mum,” she stared at the floor. “I knew gran wouldn’t want to take the escalators, so they always took the lifts when she was with us. Instead of panicking or rushing up the escalators, since I didn’t know where they were, or getting lost for that matter, I decided to wait for the elevator... I thought mum would wait for me, think like me y’know? Or be in the lift when it got down... I thought I was being smart...”

“You were,” the Doctor whispered softly, almost hesitantly Yaz noted. “You were young, got lost in a strange place. Instead of drawing attention to yourself or your situation, you thought to just follow your parents. I’m guessing you knew which floor they were going on?”

“Y-Yeah, top floor.”

“See? It was a smart decision, especially for someone so young,” she grinned as she shook her a little. Her praise made her feel slightly better, but not enough to conjure up a genuine smile. Unfortunately, the Time Lord noticed it. “Do you want to continue or?”

Yaz nodded with a small sigh. “Nobody was in the elevator when I went in. I hoped nobody did on any of the floors, it would have been an awkward encounter. I even watched the numbers to see which floor I was on. Just as I passed the third floor the lift,” she shakily breathed out, preparing herself to say the next part. “J-Just as it passed the lift shook like this one did... P-Probably more. It stopped. It was pitch black for a few minutes before the emergency light went on, for some reason it was red. There were no mirrors and the buttons didn’t have any lights...”

“You’ve been trapped before,” the Doctor concluded. “Except that  time, you were young and alone, and in an unknown place. Now you’re not. You’re with me and-”

“Y-Yeah... It’s just...” Yaz bit her lip to stop it from trembling as she spoke. “T-The lift also fell...”

“What?” she looked worried now and straightened up. “W-Were you okay?” 

“Y-Yeah,” she nodded slightly, still not looking up from her feet and sniffled as she tried to stop herself from crying. There was a catch in her throat as she tried to explain before the Doctor worried too much. “ It o-only fell for a few seconds, maybe to the second floor. I didn’t get hurt, I w-was j-just terrified,” she gulped. “It kept shaking and going dark, and n-nobody came... Or at least I d-didn't know. I w-was going through all the worst-case scenarios... I screamed when it moved but c-couldn't bring myself to yell for help, j-just in case someone unwanted heard... Silly now that I think about it, but I was s-so scared... It must’ve only been ten m-minutes, or twenty until I it steadily went down and I was out. Apparently, they tried calling but I didn’t h-hear... Mum knew I’d be in there and got help once she realized it was stuck, a-and they said they had to bring it back d-down to the ground floor in case I was seriously injured. I-I wasn’t, maybe hurt my wrist b-but I didn’t feel anything, j-just the fear of w-what was going to happen. T-They kept me for a bit to see if I was injured, mum stayed  with me...”

“Well, it’s good that you weren’t badly injured, and you had your mum to comfort you after,” the Doctor said, trying to look on the brighter side. She moved her arm up and gently ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m guessing you haven’t been in a lift since?”

Yaz sniffed and wiped at her tears, that were now freely falling down her face. “N-No... I would always find an excuse to use the stairs... T-Turned out wanting to be a police officer paid off...”

“Sorry Yaz, if I knew I swear-”

“How could you have known?” she snapped. “I didn’t tell you... I-I haven’t told anyone...”

“Not even your mum?” she asked, stunned by this information.

She shook her head. “N-No, I just said I was scared and didn’t want to go in one again... She thought I’d grow out of it, but never forced me to go in one. She even helped when other family members were being p-persistent. S-Sometimes I’d go slow going up or down the stairs, so some of them got annoyed for waiting...”

The Doctor didn’t say anything, she merely leaned over and hugged her. It was nice, and Yasmin found herself wrapping her arms around the blonde before she even realized, and buried her head into her shoulder, trying to stop herself from crying. She felt the Doctor shush her as she stroked her hair soothingly, and her other hand was on the small of her back. She managed to stop crying when something dawned on her. There was pressure on her head, and the snail was gone from her shoulder. Sniffling, she slowly pulled back.

“D-Doctor... Is your snail on my head?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, confused herself as she stared at it. “He wanted to comfort you.”

“Can you get him off please,” she squinted, trying not to be a stereotypical girl and freak out over slime in her hair.

“’Course,” she grinned and carefully pulled him off her, and popped her on her own head. “There. I know, you were only trying to comfort her but she didn’t like it. Bit tense. Hmm, apparently my hair’s shinier than yours. I don’t see it.”

Yaz looked at her confused. “What... Wait you... What?”

“That’s what he said,” she shrugged.

“You... You can speak to him?”

“Yes.”

“You speak snail?”

“Yup.”

“He’s not an  alien, is he?”

“Nope. Just your average African Snail. King  Jimbolian ,  Jimbo for short,” she grinned.

“King... What?”

“That’s his name,” she nodded. “Well, it’s what we agreed on. He’s easy to negotiate with.”

“So, you can actually speak to him, know what he’s saying,” she paused, recalling something else the blonde had said. “Was he trying to make my hair shiny? Which by the way, isn’t good a thing.”

“No, he was trying to comfort you-”

“Are you saying my hair isn’t as shiny as yours?”

“No, that’s an observation  Jimbo was making,” the Doctor clarified as she pointed to him. “I think your hair’s great!”

“Now with slime in it,” she grumbled.

“He did apologize!” she exclaimed, comically waving her arms in the air. “He saw you were upset and wanted to comfort you-”

Suddenly, the elevator started moving. It was slightly jerky, which made Yaz yelp and cling onto the Doctor like her life depended on it. Fortunately, it was moving at a steady pace upwards, the lights flickered occasionally. Throughout the time Yaz never let go of the blonde, who merely hugged back comforting her  every time she squeaked.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she said quietly. “It’s going up, that’s a good thing isn’t it? It’s where we need to go.”

“Not unless it plummets to the ground,” Yaz muttered, hating how childish she sounded. She knew the possibility of it going up, no matter how jerkily, meant it was getting ready to drop was low. It wasn’t a ride after all. But she couldn’t help the fear of it happening, the feeling in her chest that something’s going to go terribly wrong. The lingering thought in the back of her mind of it happening, of it repeating.

“I doubt it’s going to do that,” she ran her fingers through her hair again. “C’mon, we’re at our floor. The doors will open, you’ll see  we’re fine. Okay?”

She glanced up once the elevator stopped, and noticed it was on the floor they had wanted. Luckily, the doors didn’t open straight away, so nobody could see her in that state. However, the more they stayed close the more it panicked the brunette. Despite this, she let go of the Doctor and shakily stood up, her hand gripping onto the metal rail for balance.

“ C’mere Jimbo,” she heard the Doctor whisper as she got him off her head and cradled him in her arms like one would with any normal pet, or even a baby. “Can you get the box please?”

“Oh, yeah sure,” Yaz said as she stumbled over and picked it up from the floor.

“It’s okay Yaz,” she said softly. “The doors will-”

Before she even finished the sentence, the doors opened. Luckily, nobody was waiting, so Yaz bolted out of the elevator and stood at least five feet away from it, just to be safe. The Doctor chased after her and repeatedly asked if she was okay.

“Y-Yeah,” she calmed her breathing. “Sorry. We should... W-We should probably warn someone that the lift’s broken...”

“Yeah, let’s go do that,” the Doctor grinned. “Let’s go and then we’ll head back to the lads.”

* * *

“What took you girls so  lon \- What on earth do you have  there Doc?” Graham asked once he saw the snail in the Doctor’s arms as they approached them.

She grinned, not sensing his disgust in seeing the creature. “It’s a Giant African Land Snail Graham!” she held it out to him with both of her hand s. “His name’s King  Jimbolian !  Jimbo for short.  Jimbo , this is Graham and Ryan, they’re friends so don’t be mean to them.”

“ Jim... bo ?”

“Yeah,” she nodded and pulled him back to her chest once he started to move up her arm. “It’s what he wanted.”

“He... What?”

“She can speak snail apparently,” Yaz huffed, crossing her arms, the cardboard box hitting her side lightly.

“I can!”

“Um, Yaz you have something in your,” Ryan pointed to her hair, in an attempt to be discreet about it.

“It’s slime,” she grimaced, and touched it slightly. “ Jimbo decided to climb on me.”

“Climb?”

“He wanted to comfort you!” the Doctor protested.

“Comfort?” Graham raised a brow, yet was ignored.

“How could he think climbing on my head is comforting?!”

“He’s a snail, he doesn’t know what humans find comforting,” the Doctor then paused and hummed for a moment. “Maybe  ‘cause he saw my fingers in your hair? Thought that was a sign for comfort?”

“Maybe?” Yaz shrugged. She saw her gently petting the shell of  Jimbo and muttered something. “Sorry, I’m still a bit on  edge, okay?”

“It’s okay, we understand,” the blonde smiled up at her.

“We don’t,” Graham frowned, finally being acknowledged by the two girls. “Why was...  Jimbo comforting you? Why are you on edge?”

“Oh, we got stuck in an elevator for a bit,” the Doctor said casually, like it was no big deal. To her it must not have been, seeing as she travels around in space most of the time. “Yaz... Didn’t like it...”

“Yeah, definitely didn’t like it,” Yaz muttered, sighing as she sat down next to Ryan. “Oh, here’s your change Graham.”

“Thanks?” he looked rather confused to see the majority of it back. “Geez, did you at least get anything for the snail? And why a snail?”

“The TARDIS can set something up for him, better than being cooped up,” the Doctor grinned. “We did get him some food though.”

“Yeah,” Yaz said as she waved a small sealed box of food. “And we got him  ‘cause she just had to have it, you should’ve seen her, she was so giddy. Like a child wanting ice cream.”

“I wasn’t,” she pouted as she sat down, keeping  Jimbo in her arms. She noticed a few odd looks from strangers now, some kids looking at the snail in awe, and some adults looking disgusted. An employee even looked concerned as he walked towards the table.

“Sorry miss, but you can’t have that out here,” he said in a hush  tone .

“I’ll never get used to that,” she whispered as she shrugged, as if she could sh ake off the weird feeling off her with a roll of the shoulders. She cleared her throat as she turned to him. “Sorry yeah, didn’t think. He’s okay to be in a box though, right? I mean,  it's not like he has any fur or anything.”

Yaz slid the box over to her, and the blond man eyed it, as if he was quickly inspecting it. “I guess, as long as its slime doesn’t get anywhere.”

“We’re  gonna leave in a bit anyway mate,” Graham interrupted as he finished his coffee. “Unless you two want anything?”

“I’ll get water or something from a shop,” Yaz said as she pocketed the snail food.

“I don’t want anything,” the Doctor shook her head as she carefully p ut  Jimbo in the b ox, however reluctant he was to do so. She felt  bad, but didn’t want to get kicked out.

“Okay, as long as it’s in the box it’s fine,” the employee said before walking away.

“He was a bit rude,” Ryan muttered.

“How would you react seeing someone with a giant snail on their arm?” Graham said as he shoved his jacket on. “No offense Doc.”

“Is it really weird to have a snail as a pet?”

“Well, in a glass  container in your living room or something, no, not that weird,” Yaz answered as she got up. “But to pet it and carry it with you or have it on your shoulder like a parrot, then yeah, bit weird for humans.”

“Hmph,” she pouted as she stood up and carried the box. “People do it with dogs and ferrets, why not snails?”

“I don’t know,” Yaz shrugged, ignoring the ferrets and dogs remark, and side hugged her friend. “Not many people have snails? ‘Sides, it doesn’t matter now. We’re going back to the TARDIS and out of the café, so you can have him climbing up you in no time.... That was a weird sentence for a snail...”

“Just a bit yeah,” Ryan chimed in as he finished his drink and stood up. “But Yaz is right, you’ll be able to act like your normal self once we get back to the TARDIS and out of society.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor smiled and leaned into Yaz, a small smile on her face as she looked down at the box. They started to walk when Graham and Ryan headed out, but lagged behind a little bit.

“Hey,” Yaz whispered to get her attention, still holding onto her side as they walked. The blonde looked up at her. “Thanks for earlier, and not saying about my freak out...”

“No problem, if you don’t want them to know they don’t have to.”

“Thank  you, Doctor , for everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again paintedviolet for the prompt! And again, blame her for the angst. I couldn't resist having something like that for a 'stuck in the elevator' prompt.

**Author's Note:**

> This 'prompt' of:  
> Unusual Pet + Stuck in an elevator  
> came from paintedviolet, so you guys can blame her for the angst in this next chapter.


End file.
